Iranian leaders defiant even as currency falls

TEHRAN, Iran Senior clerics intensified their anti-Western criticism Friday, calling the near-collapse of the national currency this week a consequence of a U.S.-led conspiracy to wage economic war on Iran.

The message, delivered in Tehran's main weekly sermon and carried in official media outlets, appeared to be an effort to show a unified and response to the crisis over the currency, the rial, which lost roughly 40 percent of its value against the dollar in a stampede of selling to black-market currency traders. There was also a street protest in Tehran, the capital.

“The pressure today imposed on us by the world arrogance is full-fledged economic war,” said Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a top cleric. “This pressure will not last. Our people have been tested and they will not be worn down.”

Envoy denies misleading intent

WASHINGTON The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations denied in a letter released Friday that she tried to mislead Congress when she initially called the Sept. 11 attack on a consulate in Libya a spontaneous protest.

Susan Rice, in a letter released Friday, wrote three senators that her comments had been based on the best reports available from intelligence officials.

U.S. officials later said it was an act of terrorism, with some attackers linked to groups affiliated with, or sympathetic to, al-Qaida.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., rejected the explanation. “Either the Obama administration is misleading Congress and the American people, or it is blaming the entire failure on the intelligence community,” they said in a statement.

Also,

U.S. officials confirmed Turkish reports that two Tunisians had been detained in Turkey in connection with the killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans at the U.S. post in Benghazi, Libya. It was not clear if they were considered suspects or witnesses.

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